Rob Fahey (Page 61)

Academy Award winning director Steven Spielberg has signed a deal with publisher Electronic Arts which will see him working with the EA Los Angeles studio on the creation of three original game properties.

With Namco's We Love Katamari finally set to bring the Katamary Damacy cult phenomenon to Europe in the coming months, we caught up with the creative mind behind the series, Keita Takahashi, to hear more about his outlook on videogames.

Sony has released yet another software upgrade for the PlayStation Portable, bringing the system up to version 2.50 - with the addition of support for copyright-protected video content being the main addition this time.

Despite being moved back to April 2006, Rockstar's Bully remains one of the most controversial titles of the moment - with the game now the subject of an emotive petition from the mother of a teenager who committed suicide after being bullied.

Puppy training simulator Nintendogs has racked up sales of over 160,000 units across Europe in its first weekend on sale, with the Nintendo DS title looking set to match its earlier successes in North America and Japan.

The latest report from well respected market research firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers suggests that videogames will spearhead a major growth spurt for the global entertainment industry between now and 2009.

With the launch of the Xbox 360 looming near, Microsoft's chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach has spoken of the firm's commitment to the original Xbox platform - with software launches expected into 2007.

Microsoft's chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach has thrown down the gauntlet to rival platform holder Sony, telling <i>GamesIndustry.biz</i> that the firm is ready for Sony to say "which market, what date" for the launch of PlayStation 3.

The latest twist in a four-year legal battle over the legality of mod chips in Australia has ruled the devices legal once more, with the country's highest court finding against Sony in an appeal case which could have wide-reaching consequences.

Sony's much-maligned UMD movie format, which launched in the UK alongside the PlayStation Portable at the start of September, has given pause to critics by clocking up a surprisingly strong first month of sales.

Leading British publisher SCi has announced its preliminary results for the nine months to June 30th, showing a smaller than expected loss of GBP 14 million and reporting that the integration of Eidos is proceeding successfully.

Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop, Bandai's new Nintendo DS title based on the popular virtual pet franchise, has continued to sell strongly in its second week on sale in Japan, taking the top spot in this week's chart.

Online and mobile gaming represents the future for one of Japan's largest publishers and the world's most successful creator of role-playing games, according to Square Enix president Yoichi Wada.

Sega Europe's Caroline Searle, Tina Hicks and Lynn Daniel are set to embark on a six day trek up Mount Kilimanjaro later this year to raise money for children's education charity ESC, and are actively seeking sponsorship for the climb.

In a further blow to Sony's efforts to curb the use of homebrew software and pirate games on the PlayStation Portable, hackers last night released a patch for the recently launched v2.00 firmware which allows it to be downgraded back to v1.50.

Leading European retailer GAME Group Plc has announced its interim results for the six months to July 31st, revealing that the group's like for like turnover dropped by over 5 per cent as retail sales hit a speed bump.

The much-hyped "Origen Xbox 360" count-down has finally hit zero - revealing that the site is actually a contest offering consumers a chance to win trips to an Xbox 360 launch event in the United States in November.

Hackers have found a security loophole in the most recent version of Sony's PlayStation Portable firmware which may allow the console to run homebrew software, emulators and pirated games again.